Pragmatism as a Way of Life Pragmatism as a Way of Life The Lasting Legacy of William James and John Dewey Hilary Putnam Ruth Anna Putnam edited by David Macarthur THE BELKNAP PRESS OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, Massachusetts & London, England / 2017 Copyright © 2017 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First printing Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Putnam, Hilary, author. | Putnam, Ruth Anna, author. | Macarthur, David, editor. Title: Pragmatism as a way of life : the lasting legacy of William James and John Dewey / Hilary Putnam, Ruth Anna Putnam ; edited by David Macarthur. Description: Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2017. | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016043965 | ISBN 9780674967502 (alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Pragmatism. | James, William, 1842–1910. | Dewey, John, 1859–1952. | Ethics. Classification: LCC B832 .P945 2017 | DDC 144/.3–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016043965 CONTENTS Standard Editions of the Works of the Classical Pragmatists ix Introduction by David Macarthur 1 The Insights of Classical and Neo-Pragmatism 1. Taking Pragmatism Seriously 13 Ruth Anna Putnam with a reply by hilary putnam 2. Pragmatism and Verificationism 21 Hilary Putnam 3. What Makes Pragmatism So Different? 36 Hilary Putnam 4. Pragmatism and Nonscientific Knowledge 55 Hilary Putnam 5. Weaving Seamless Webs 71 Ruth Anna Putnam vi CONTENTS 6. Rorty’s Vision: Philosophical Courage and Social Hope 87 Ruth Anna Putnam 7. Reflections on the Future of Pragmatism 108 Ruth Anna Putnam Key Topics in the Pragmatism of James and Dewey 8. Was James a Pragmatist? 123 Ruth Anna Putnam 9. Pragmatism and Realism 140 Hilary Putnam 10. What the Spilled Beans Can Spell: The Difficult and Deep Realism of William James 159 Hilary Putnam and Ruth Anna Putnam 11. James’s Theory of Truth 167 Hilary Putnam 12. James on Truth (Again) 188 Hilary Putnam 13. James’s Philosophical Friendships, 1902–1905 201 Hilary Putnam 14. What James’s Pragmatism Offers Us: A Reading of the First Chapter of Pragmatism 225 Hilary Putnam 15. Varieties of Experience and Pluralities of Perspective 232 Ruth Anna Putnam 16. William James on Religion 248 Ruth Anna Putnam 17. The Real William James: Response to Robert Meyers 261 Hilary Putnam and Ruth Anna Putnam CONTENTS vii 18. Dewey’s Central Insight 276 Hilary Putnam 19. Dewey’s Epistemology 293 ruth anna Putnam 20. Dewey’s Faith 314 ruth anna Putnam Pragmatist Conceptions of Moral Value and Democracy 21. Philosophy as a Reconstructive Activity: William James on Moral Philosophy 331 Hilary Putnam 22. The Moral Impulse 349 ruth anna Putnam 23. The Moral Life of a Pragmatist 360 ruth anna Putnam 24. Creating Facts and Values 385 ruth anna Putnam 25. Perceiving Facts and Values 405 ruth anna Putnam 26. Democracy and Value Inquiry 421 ruth anna Putnam 27. Democracy as a Way of Life 439 ruth anna Putnam Appendix: Other Works on Pragmatism by Hilary Putnam and Ruth Anna Putnam 455 Works Cited 457 Acknowledgments 465 Index 469 STANDARD EDITIONS OF THE WORKS OF THE CLASSICAL PRAGMATISTS Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, 8 vols. Ed. Charles Hartshorne, Paul Weiss, and Arthur W. Burks. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1931–1958. Vols. 1–6 ed. Charles Hartshorne and Paul Weiss (1931–1935); vols. 7–8 ed. Arthur W. Burks (1958). The individual volumes, with original date of publication: 1: Principles of Philosophy [1931] 2: Elements of Logic [1932] 3: Exact Logic [1933] 4: The Simplest Mathematics [1933] 5: Pragmatism and Pragmaticism [1934] 6: Scientific Metaphysics [1935] 7: Science and Philosophy [1958] 8: Reviews, Correspondence and Bibliography [1958] Citations from these volumes will appear in the form: Peirce, Collected Papers, vol., para. The Works of William James, 17 vols. Ed. Frederick H. Burkhardt, Fredson Bowers, and Ignas K. Skrupskelis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1975–1988. x STANDARD EDITIONS OF THE CLASSICAL PRAGMATISTS The individual volumes, with original date of publication: 1: Pragmatism [1975] 2: The Meaning of Truth [1975] 3: Essays in Radical Empiricism [1976] 4: A Pluralistic Universe [1977] 5: Essays in Philosophy [1978] 6: The Will to Believe [1979] 7: Some Problems of Philosophy [1979] 8: The Principles of Psychology (3 vols.) [1981] 9: Essays in Religion and Morality [1982] 10: Talks to Teachers on Psychology [1983] 11: Essays in Psychology [1983] 12: Psychology: The Briefer Course [1984] 13: The Varieties of Religious Experience [1985] 14: Essays in Psychical Research [1986] 15: Essays, Comments and Reviews [1987] 16: Manuscript Lectures [1988] 17: Manuscripts, Essays and Notes [1988] Citations from these volumes will appear in the form: James, Works, vol., page. The Collected Works of John Dewey, 1882–1953, 37 vols. Ed. Jo Ann Boydston. Produced by the Center for Dewey Studies, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. The Early Works of John Dewey, 1882–1898, 5 vols. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1972. 1: 1882–88, Essays, Leibniz’s New Essays Concerning the Human Understanding 2: 1887, Psychology 3: 1889–1892, Essays, Outlines of a Critical Theory of Ethics 4: 1893–1894, Essays, The Study of Ethics 5: 1895–1898, Essays The Middle Works of John Dewey, 1899–1924, 15 vols. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1978. 1: 1899–1901, Essays, The School and Society, The Educational Situation 2: 1902–1903, Essays, The Child and the Curriculum, Studies in Logical Theory